What Happened to We?
by ThinIceQueen
Summary: "You were killing me?" Eddie asked, his voice laced with disbelief. "What happened to we, man?" his voice was harsh and low, cracking with the emotions that tore through him. "What happened to we?" /Eddie struggles to cope without Venom before they find each other again. Lots of angst and fluff and eventual smut.
1. Goodbye Eddie

**Note: Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned**

 **This chapter is going to be longer than the others since it all takes place during the movie. The other chapters will be shorter, but I didn't think it would be fair to take a couple of chapters to tell you the same story as the movie. I wanted to overlap with the movie, however, because it feels important to the story that I want to tell that I give you my perception of these events.**

 **Summary: "You were killing me?" Eddie asked, his voice laced with disbelief.**

" **What happened to we, man?" his voice was harsh and low, cracking with the emotions that tore through him. "What happened to we?"**

 **/Eddie struggles to cope without Venom before they find each other again. Lots of angst and fluff and eventual smut.**

What Happened to We?

Chapter 1: Goodbye Eddie

Eddie could feel the anger welling up inside of himself as he looked at the pile of black goo squirming around on the other side of the glass. In the back of his mind, he acknowledged that this intense feeling was just filling in the space where someone else had taken up residence until only a few seconds ago. He had thought that getting his own body back would be a relief, but he had never felt more alone.

The black goo that Eddie could hardly believe was still Venom slammed itself against the glass doors in a futile attempt to get closer to him. Eddie closed the gap between the two, pointing an accusatory finger at the symbiote.

"You were killing me?" Eddie asked, his voice laced with disbelief.

"What happened to we, man?" his voice was harsh and low, cracking with the emotions that tore through him. "What happened to we?"

Getting impossibly closer to his former partner, Eddie found himself trying to find eyes to look into, to find any hint of remorse. The creature plastered itself to the opaque door separating them had never looked more alien to him.

"Yeah, look at you now," he said as he turned away. "Now you're dying too."

All at once it became too much for him to handle. He had to get out of there, seeing Venom outside of himself pained him more than he would like to admit. Sparing one more glance at the pathetic looking symbiote, he felt his heart twinge, which only made him remember the damage that Venom had done to it. Venom had hurt him. Venom was killing him.

"We're done."

Eddie spun on his heel and made his way to the door, barely registering Anne calling after him.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Not even bothering to look at her, he responds, "Anywhere but here."

He stormed out and felt very satisfied with himself when Anne let the door slam shut behind him and didn't follow him out. Both hands flew to his chest as he struggled to get air in, suddenly feeling very hollow and empty. He rushed to find the exit, breathing a sigh of relief when he reached the doors of the elevator. However, things immediately began to go south as the doors opened, and Eddie found himself looking down the barrel of a high-tech tranquilizer gun in the hands of one of Carlton Drake's cronies. For a split second while his brain was trying to register what was happening, he found him asking himself if tranquilizer guns even have barrels.

Before he had a chance to dwell on that thought for too long, one of Drake's goons pulled the trigger and Eddie was thrown back, landing flat on his ass, looking down at the dart wedged into his chest. As his vision went dark, he had just enough time to wonder if Venom would be dead before he even woke up.

 _Venom_

 _Venom_

"Venom!" Eddie is suddenly awake, his symbiote the first thing on his mind. He was still feeling groggy as he took in his surroundings. While the metallic device that he found himself strapped to did not ring any bells, the glass holding cells and blue-green lighting did seem familiar. He realized he was at the Life Foundation lab where he met Venom.

' _Venom,'_ he thought to himself, remembering the sad state that he left his other half in. _'Other half? Christ, when did I become such a sap?'_

The sounds of heavy boots echoing through the room tore Eddie from his thoughts, and he was immediately on high alert. The same goon that shot him earlier enters the cell that he woke up in, a smirk prominent on his face.

"You can kill me, 'cause I'm dying anyway," Eddie said, breaking the silence.

The goon leaned down to get into Eddie's face. "I'm not just going to kill you," he promised. "That wouldn't be any fun."

His eyes shone with complete hatred. "No, no, no, no, no. I'm going to rip your tongue out of your face- "

Eddie didn't give him a chance to finish his threat, instead choosing that moment to headbutt the brute man standing before him.

"Whoo!" Eddie called out, the adrenaline coursing through his veins making him feel alive.

Before the larger man had time to retaliate, Carlton Drake appeared in the doorway of the cell, silencing his crony and stopping him in his tracks.

"Stop. You're bleeding all over my lab. Go. Go!"

Eddie didn't have time to feel too victorious as he immediately found himself face to face with the head honcho himself. Something about Drake seemed more sinister than the last time Eddie had seen him, but he attributed this to seeing exactly what went down in this creepy lab of his.

"Where is he?"

Eddie tried his best to stall Drake, as his brain was going a mile a minute trying to figure out how to escape, how to get back Venom.

' _No,'_ he told himself. _'Venom hurt you.'_

"I don't know. Even if I did, I wouldn't tell you anyway," Eddie started. "I don't trust you, and you- You're insane."

Drakes voice nearly oozed sarcasm. "That hurts. Long journey entry about that tonight."

Eddie thought he was funny when he said, "I'm sorry," but Drake kept talking right over him.

"You're being dumb, Brock, I'm not insane. What's insane is the way humans choose to live today. Think about it. All we do is take, take, take. It can't go on. We brought the planet to the brink of extinction. We're parasites. You're a good example. All you do is take."

Eddie felt his frown deepen, thoughts immediately turning to Venom. Was _he_ the parasite? Was he the one latching onto people, draining them, ruining them, and then moving on to the next?

Drake continued by saying, "You took my symbiote," and Eddie felt himself becoming irrationally pissed off thinking about someone else referring to Venom as theirs.

"You take pot shots at a great man trying to get something done."

"Who?" Eddie mentally patted himself on the back for his clever little quip.

Drake was decidedly less amused. "Didn't you take from the person you loved the most, who trusted you the most? _That's_ insane. What I've initiated is a whole new world – a new species. Man and symbiote, combined."

Eddie knew that Drake meant Anne, but he couldn't help but think of Venom instead. For all he knew, his other could already be dried up and dead on the floor of the MRI room. Eddie's stomach twisted at the thought, and the hollow space in his chest ached. He felt empty. Maybe Drake would kill him quickly.

"Let me tell you something, buddy, alright? Just man to man. Because I have spent a significant amount of time, with one of these creatures _up my ass_.It's not a lot of fun. And then, I find out that all along they're killing you."

"This is the last time that I'm asking you. Where is my symbiote?"

Eddie shrugged nonchalantly. "I have no idea."

The last thing Eddie expected was for Drake to morph into a very familiar looking being, its fangs baring at him with saliva dripping down. Nevertheless, that is exactly what happened, and Eddie could hardly keep his shit together.

" **Where is he?"**

Eddie instinctively flinched. "Oh, my God."

" **Where is Venom?"**

"That is the ugliest looking thing I have ever seen," he rasped out.

When Eddie opened his eyes again, Drake was in front of him again. "You know, Brock, I have no use for you."

As Drake walked out of the holding cell, he called out for his loyal goon. "Treece! Come and clean up your mess!"

Eddie could feel his heartbeat as it began to slow back down as his breathing returned to normal. A lot of the strange things that Drake had said began to make sense.

"Ohh, he has one up his ass, too."

Treece returned to the room with a couple of other guards in tow. His gun hoisted casually up, far too close to Eddie's face if he had anything to say about it. Treece signaled to the other two to release Eddie from the metal contraption that currently held him.

By the time they got out into the same woods that Eddie had used to his advantage the first time that he was escaping from the Life Foundation, he felt like there was no hope. No point in even trying to escape.

Dan probably thought he was a freak, Anne definitely thought he was a freak, and Venom was most likely dead. All he had to look forward to now was going to Hell for being in the same body as a creature who bit a person's head off.

He wasn't even sure if Heaven and Hell were real places, but he knew that whatever was waiting for him in the afterlife could not be good. He was no Carlton Drake bad, but he couldn't think of too many good things that he had done. All of the bad things that were happening around him and to the people that he cared about were because of him.

His pride wouldn't let him go down easily, though. Especially not to that dick, Treece. That bastard probably had the smuggest look on his face.

"What are you gonna do? You going to walk me to death?"

"Shut up," came the unamused voice of Treece from behind him. "Not so tough without your friend."

Eddie ignored this, _he had to._ He couldn't afford to get distracted right now. He turns around, looking the guards in the eyes. Treece looks back at him, his firm glare unwavering.

"Did your momma not love you?"

Eddie lunged for Treece's gun, but the goon was not caught quite so off guard this time and managed to yank it back and slam the butt of it down on the back of Eddie's neck, causing him to crumple towards the floor.

Treece gave him no time to recover before kicking him in the side, effectively knocking him over. The other guards chuckled as Eddie pushed himself up to his knees.

Eddie put his hands up in mock surrender as he struggled to catch his breath. "I guess it pays to be a specialist, huh? It doesn't matter if you kill me anyway, because there is something way bigger afoot in this world than you and me. Much bigger than me- "

Eddie's eyes widened as one of the guards was whipped up and out of sight and into the branches of the trees above. The other guards didn't appear to notice, and Eddie tried not to get his hopes up about who, or what, it might be.

"-and it's much, much bigger than you." This time Eddie allowed the side of his mouth to pull up into a half smile when the second guard got whooshed away.

Then he saw him. Her? Eddie wasn't sure, but it didn't matter. It was Venom. Alive.

"Karma's a bitch," Eddie all but whispered, feeling giddy.

Treece was arrogant when he began to respond. "I don't believe in karma- "

He didn't get the chance to say anything else before Venom spun him around and promptly bit his head clean off his shoulders.

Eddie was unsure if he ought to feel relieved or terrified at the sight of the creature in front of him. He settled for somewhere right in the middle.

" **Hi, Eddie,"** came a familiar, yet strange voice. He knew who it was, but he didn't know whose body it was in. Presumedly some woman from the hospital.

"Whoa…" Eddie said, as Venom reached down for the front of his shirt and pulled him up to his feet, their face right in front of his.

And then Venom kissed him. Like, _kissed_ him. After the initial shock of this action, Eddie found himself taken aback by his own lips responding. He felt Venom's long tongue prod at his lips, and he granted it access. Eddie was practically choking on it, and he didn't think he had ever been so turned on before in his whole life.

And then suddenly he felt something he worried he never would again, the sense of being so perfectly whole. Complete. Venom's tongue began to shrink and pull out of his mouth. He backed away and opened his eyes to see Anne standing before him.

Her eyes were wide and frantic as she looked around at the scene before her. "Oh, no," she whispered. "I just bit that guy's head off."

Eddie was still trying to make sense of what was happening but tried to focus on reassuring her. "I know, I know, I've been there too. It's not fun."

He felt his heart jump when he heard Venom's voice in his head again, after thinking for so long that he never would. He could also feel Venom looking through his memories of their time apart, and he found the one of the other symbiote taking over Drake's body.

 **The one with Drake is called Riot.**

"Who is Riot?" Eddie wondered out loud.

 **Riot is what you would call a team leader. It has an arsenal of weapons.**

"Drake's got his own symbiote," Eddie informed Anne.

 **They are unstoppable.**

Anne sighed. "Oh, great."

Eddie felt Venom give off a sense of urgency. **We have got to go.**

"Where are we going?"

Anne tried her best to keep up with the conversation based on the half that she could hear. "I'm coming with you."

 **No! It's going to get ugly.**

"She can fight ugly, trust me."

Anne nods. "Yeah, I can fight ugly.

Eddie felt the moment Venom took over. He's sort of pissed that Venom wouldn't let him make his own decisions, but at the same time, he was far too relieved to care.

Eddie saw as Venom looked down at her, and with a sense of finality said, **"Not today,"** before sprinting away, leaving a bewildered Anne behind.

Venom had almost forgotten what it felt like to be bonded with his perfect host. Being in that mangy mutt after being with Eddie was awful. Anne was okay, better than the dog, but no human could compare to his Eddie.

They could still hear the shrill noise that separated them in that awful room. Venom had tried to get back to Eddie. They tried so hard, but they could not find any way through the glass door that stood in their way. They had tried to speak to Eddie, shout to him, but Eddie could not hear them. Their bond was broken. Venom had been worried, and they hadn't even known what worried was before Eddie.

Venom could tell that Eddie was displeased with them. Probably because they left Anne behind. Didn't Eddie understand that they were protecting her? Did Eddie not understand how dangerous this was?

They did not like the feeling come from Eddie. Venom relinquished his control over their body so Eddie would not be mad at them. Venom just wanted them to be happy.

"God damn it, what the hell happened there? We just left Anne!" Eddie yelled at them.

 **It is not safe for her. If we do not stop Riot it will come back here with millions more of my kind.**

"Millions?" he asked incredulously. "What? You were going to take the rocket, and then you were going to come back here with an invasion force? And then what were you going to do? You were going to go and feed on a whole planet?" Eddie was being very dramatic at that point. Of course that was the plan.

 **Yes! But it is different now, Eddie. I have decided to stay.**

"Wow," he said sarcastically.

 **On my planet, I am kind of a loser, like you.** Venom confessed. **But here, we could be more.**

"Excuse me?"

 **And we are beginning to like it here.** Venom was not lying when they said this. They did not want to hurt Eddie, and if the planet was invaded then Eddie would surely die. Venom had grown very fond of their host, and they did not want a different one. Protecting Eddie was important to them.

"Oh, you like us now, do you?" Venom did not know why this was such a difficult concept for Eddie to grasp.

 **However, there will be nothing left to like if we do not stop that rocket.**

"Oh, I see. When it comes to being completely annihilated then it is back to we."

 **It is we. Like it or not, it is going to take both of us.**

At that moment they had made it to the end of the woods, leading to a steep decline down, an expansive body water in the distance. Venom could see the rocket that Riot planned to board to take back to Klyntar on a platform stretching out into the water.

"Cut the bullshit," Eddie said angerly. "What really made you change your mind?"

Venom spread itself out over Eddie's skin, overtaking control of their body. Relishing the feeling of just how _right_ it felt, their face broke out into a smile, revealing their sharp fang-like teeth.

" **You. You did, Eddie."**

They briefly felt a warm sensation emanating from inside themself. It took Venom a second to realize that it came from Eddie. They liked it, it felt nice. Venom wanted to make Eddie feel that way more often.

Venom launched them off the edge of the hill, much to the chagrin of their host. They landed safely and broke out into a sprint towards the rocket and accompanying space stations that were in control of the spacecraft.

They had just made it to one of the buildings closest to the rocket when Riot smashed through the glass windows next to them.

' _Oh, Jesus!'_ Eddie thought to the symbiote. Venom could feel their heart rate go up, but there wasn't much they could do about it right then. _'You can take this guy, right?'_

" **He has got shit you have never seen."**

Eddie was a bundle of nerves. _'Wha- what does that mean? What are our chances?'_

Despite the less than stellar situation that they were in, Venom hummed in appreciation at Eddie's use of the word 'we.'

" **Hmm. Pretty much zero."**

' _Oh, fuck it. Well, let's go save the planet.'_ Venom could feel some pseudo-confident energy being sent to them from Eddie. They savored the feeling of Eddie opening himself up to working in tandem with them. Us.

Faintly, through the shattered windows of the main operation building Venom heard a mechanical voice say, "T minus four minutes."

Fuck. Less time than they thought.

Venom jumped onto the metal supports of the platform over the water and flung them forward towards the powerful symbiote making its way to the spacecraft. Riot had a head start, but Venom was quickly closing the gap.

As soon as they had surpassed the other alien they smashed up through the pathway and got in Riot's way.

" **Venom. Get in the rocket."** Riot did not seem very surprised to see them.

What did surprise it was when Venom refuted their command. **"No. We won't let you destroy this world."**

" **Then die."**

Riot's arm-like tendrils began to morph into something else as it rushed at Venom, slamming the blade shape down, barely missing their face.

' _Holy shit!'_

" **Told you."**

After a few attacks back and forth Venom managed to shove Riot back down the pathway the way he came.

" **You have a strong host,"** Riot acknowledged. **"But not strong enough."**

Venom was doing their best, but Riot was far stronger and had managed to get the upper hand. Claws sprang from its knuckles, and it dragged them across Venom's face, pulling Venom away from Eddie

Venom thought it was all over. It was just a useless pile of goo. Venom needed Eddie, couldn't do it without him.

Just as Riot unhinged its jaw and prepared to swallow Venom whole, Venom saw Eddie stir from where he had been flung to the side. He jumped towards them, reaching for Venom's outstretched tendril that took all of their energy to form.

They merged back together, Venom in control again, and they slammed into Riot, knocking them both over. Riot's claws were everywhere cutting through them both and they could see that both Eddie and the other human were becoming exposed.

Venom felt Eddie try to hold onto them, but Riot was absorbing them, becoming one hybrid symbiote. Venom could still see what was happening and tried to fight their way out, but they could not feel Eddie. Venom felt scared for their very fragile and pathetic human host

Riot was in control and jumped onto the side of the rocket. They began the ascent up it when a screeching noise reached their ears. Riots claws flew up and attempted to protect themself to no avail.

As the high-pitched noise got stronger Venom could feel them separating from Riot, and they tried to grab for Eddie, tried to keep them together, but all four beings fell from the rocket.

They slammed into the platform at the base of the spacecraft, the two symbiotes separating from their hosts. Venom fell farther away than Riot, and tried to climb up the legs of the support beam, but Riot was going faster.

Venom could hear a commotion come from where Eddie was, and then suddenly the other human fell off the side of it. Venom could see that Riot had managed to reach him before he fell, and they merged back together and propelled themself back up to the surface.

Just as Venom made it over the edge they heard Riot speak to Eddie. **"You are nothing,"** it said, and leaped for the rocket again, allowing Venom to see the large scythe-shaped blade jutting out from Eddie's chest. Eddie collapsed to the ground facing Venom, seemingly reaching out from them before his muscles relaxed and the life began to fade from his eyes.

Venom had never been able to feel very strong emotions outside of a host previously, but the anger and fear that they felt in that moment was more intense than anything they had ever known before.

 **Eddie, Eddie, Eddie,** they chanted as they went as fast as they could towards his body, but they weren't moving _fast enough_.

It felt like an eternity before they made it onto Eddie's hand. They would have to move quickly. The longer a person was dead the harder it was to heal it, and that was assuming that it was not already too late considering Eddie's pending organ failure from earlier.

Venom never knew what it was like to blame themself for something before, it was not in their nature, the concept of guilt previously feeling useless and like a waste of time. But if Eddie were to die then, they knew that it would have been their fault. Why hadn't they healed Eddie's organs before? Why did they begin to eat them in the first place?

Venom crawled up Eddie's hand, up to his arm and into his chest and they begin to go through to each damaged organ and repair them. They jumpstarted Eddie's heart and forced blood to pump through their veins and then reached the lungs and forced them to work, making them breathe in and out.

Venom was able to feel the second Eddie opened his eyes. He was scared and confused, and Venom gathered up all of the relief and satisfaction that they felt and sent it to Eddie, trying to calm him down before completely covering him and taking over.

Venom ripped the blade out of their chest and released and horrid scream towards the sky. They were not going to let Riot get away with hurting Eddie. Venom shot up the side of the metal support beams next to the rocket and then vaulted off, smashing into the spacecraft.

Venom could see Riot through the window and smirked at it.

" **Traitor."**

Though weak, Venom could feel Eddie push through to respond to Riot himself. **"Have a nice life,"** they said before shoving off the side of the rocket, blade still in hand. As they fell, they pierced through the metal of the projectile with the blade, dragging it down and tearing it apart.

The heat of the explosion was too much, and it took everything in Venom to protect Eddie, to keep Eddie safe. Venom knew that they were fading, but they had to make it through the fire, couldn't let anything happen to Eddie. It was close, but Venom managed to hold their bond together long enough to make it out of the flames before releasing their host.

" **Goodbye Eddie."**

"Venom! NO!"

The last thing Venom saw before sinking into complete blackness was Eddie crashing into the waters below. Cold and alone, but safe.

 **Note: While I am in love with this movie, and those two idiots Venom and Eddie - sometimes the script sounds dumb, so I changed a couple of words or removed some things that felt too repetitive. But I didn't cut out anything important.**

 **I also changed the pronouns that Venom used to refer to Riot, because if symbiotes really are genderless, then calling Riot 'he' doesn't really make sense. As far as I can tell, symbiotes are usually called 'it,' but if I'm wrong and they actually are usually called 'they/them' or a specific gender then, by all means, let me know. Also, I just like the idea of Venom referring to itself as us instead of I, so that's what I'm going to do. If I made any mistakes and used any pronouns where there shouldn't have been, I apologize.**

 **Also, I'm not the best at writing fight scenes, so I hope I did the scenes with Riot justice. Please be sure to like and favorite if you enjoyed this, I hope to have the next chapter up very soon.**


	2. Coming Home

**Note: Just a warning, there is a description of two panic attacks in this chapter. I did my best to describe how they feel to me when I have them, so I hope it makes sense and conveys the idea that I was trying to get across. One is in the very beginning of the chapter and is pretty mild and short in comparison to the one that is a little bit further down.**

 **I was not expecting this chapter to get as long as it did. I'm kind of impressed with myself if I'm being honest.**

 **Summary: "You were killing me?" Eddie asked, his voice laced with disbelief.**

" **What happened to we, man?" his voice was harsh and low, cracking with the emotions that tore through him. "What happened to we?"**

 **/Eddie struggles to cope without Venom before they find each other again. Lots of angst and fluff and eventual smut.**

What Happened to We?

Chapter 2: Coming Home

It was too hot, Eddie was burning. His skin felt like it was melting, and his throat was on fire. All he could see was the flames surrounding him, and he thought that it couldn't get any worse. Then he heard Venom's voice call out.

" **Goodbye, Eddie."**

Eddie suddenly felt like his heart had been ripped from his chest and he let out a gasp when he felt Venom leave his body.

"Venom! NO!"

He crashed into the violent waters below, knocking the wind out of him. He couldn't breathe and couldn't see.

Where was Venom? He had to find them. They couldn't just be gone.

His arms and legs flailed as they tried to propel him back to the surface, but he had no idea which direction was up or down. He began to sink. His body felt heavy and cold. The last few bubbles of air escaped him, and then the world went dark.

 _Venom_

"Venom!" Eddie sat straight up in bed, clutching at his throat as he tried to suck air in as quickly as possible. He felt like he was dying, choking on the oxygen. He managed his legs over the side of the bed to give himself better leverage to put his head between his knees and focus on making his lungs work properly.

Once his breathing settled, he was able to glance around the sad apartment that he had been living in since his breakup with Anne. If everything weren't so fucked up, then he would find it humorous that the state of his apartment reflected just how he felt. It was too quiet, too lonely, too empty.

He glanced at the alarm clock next to his bed which read 6:34 A.M. Eddie groaned, knowing that there was no point in trying to fall back asleep at this point. He got up and made his way to the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee and make some breakfast.

It had already been two weeks since the fight at the Life Foundation, since Venom had left him, and he was still waking up in a cold sweat every morning. His sleeping habits were abysmal and he had no idea how he was even functioning normally at this point.

Eddie sat down with his cup of coffee and dug into the eggs and bacon in front of him before he picked up the TV remote and turned on the news. Every morning he tried not to get his hopes up too much, but the only reason he even watched the news anymore was to keep an eye out for anything that could lead him to Venom. He knew, he just _knew_ , that Venom wasn't inside him anymore. If they were there then he wouldn't feel so hollow and useless, but he refused to believe that Venom was gone forever. He didn't think that he would be able to get through each day if he didn't have the search to give him motivation and purpose.

All the news reports that morning were sadly uneventful. No sign of alien lifeforms taking over human bodies and biting people's heads off anywhere. Before leaving for work he always made sure to take the stairs and check around the outside of the building, just in case Venom somehow managed to find their way there. Just like every other day, there was nothing out there besides a few sketchy looking people, most likely exchanging one drug or another, but they were nothing out of the ordinary.

Eddie liked his new job well-enough. He had been offered the opportunity to go back to doing the Brock report after everyone realized that he was right about Carlton Drake and the Life Foundation, but that didn't feel like him anymore. It had made him happy for a time, but he had put that job in front of everything else in his life. He had become reckless in order to keep up the shock value of it, and it had cost him the job and Anne. He had decided that journalism was a better fit for him. It satiated his thirst for finding out the truth while keeping him out of the spotlight that did nothing but encourage his self-centered and impulsive ways. Being able to sit down and think out a piece and use his words to make people listen was good for him.

One other benefit was just that he had a lot more free time now. That might have seemed like a bad thing only a few weeks ago when he just about would have killed (he doesn't even want to think about the irony of that phrase) to have something to take his mind off Anne. Now, however, he uses most of his free time to look for Venom instead of wallowing in self-pity.

Sometimes, when he would accidentally let his mind wander, he wondered how long he would keep up the search before acknowledging that the symbiote could simply be gone. After all, that final goodbye seemed final, and the fire was awfully brutal. There was no way that he would have survived if Venom hadn't protected him.

Eddie mentally kicked himself for letting himself think about that. There was absolutely no way that he would be able to go to work every day, let alone get out of bed, if he didn't have the hope of being _whole_ again one day. No breakup, not even the one with Anne, had the ability to so completely wreck him like losing his other did. Eddie had no idea how he had become so utterly attached to an alien that had adhered themself to him like a parasite as quickly as he did. Yet here he was, doing every possible thing that he could think of to get them back.

He still had yet to get a new bike or car, so he had to walk to work every day or take the trolley. That was perfectly fine by him since it gave him an excuse to walk down any street that he had taken when he was with Venom. Though it was a long-shot, Eddie thought that Venom might remember one of these streets and try to come back here to look for him.

 _Unless_.

Unless even if Venom was alive, they weren't looking for him.

This thought hadn't occurred to him before, but now it overtook him. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't see. He felt like he was dying. He tried to bend down to put his head between his knees again, but this time it did nothing. Choked sobs broke free from him as he tried to stand up straight once more. He felt like he needed to escape, but he hardly knew where he was or where to go. He backed up until he found a building to lean against, ignoring the scrape of the brick against the back of his head. He tightly crossed his arms against his chest in a protective fashion, the pressure of it giving him the ability to get a few strangled breaths in.

He was crying, sobbing, tears streaming down his face. It was too hot, but he felt cold. His fingers and toes were numb, yet he was burning up. He couldn't hear anything except for the roar in his ears, which was a mix of howling winds and rushing water. He began pushing against his chest harder and harder, his irregular breaths slowly becoming a bit more normal. His vision was still swimming, but he could make out the outline of a woman in front of him. After a second the noise in his ears become more of a dull ringing and he realized that the person in front of him was trying to talk to him.

"Sir? Sir, are you alright?"

"No" he managed to croak out once he could get his mouth to form words.

He was able to dig through his coat pockets to find his phone and thrust it at the stranger. "Call Anne. Please."

Eddie crumpled to the floor as soon as she used his thumbprint to unlock his phone and looked through the contacts for Anne. He was too spent to pay attention to what the woman was saying. It felt like it had only been a couple of seconds, but the next time he tried to open his eyes Anne was in front of him, worry etched on her face.

"Eddie? What happened?" She inquired as gently as she could. She bent down and wiped the tear stains that were streaked down his face.

Eddie couldn't open his mouth. He didn't trust himself not to break down again if he did. Thankfully Anne seemed to understand took both of his hands and helped him to stand up. He leaned on her shoulder as she walked him to her car and helped him into the passenger seat.

He watched as Anne spoke to the woman who had called her and shook her hand and thanked her before getting his phone back.

She slid into the driver's seat and looked at him for a moment. He was expecting for her to dig for information and to try to get answers out of him, but when she finally spoke, she just asked if he was supposed to work that day.

Grateful, he nodded, and she looked through his phone before finding the number that she was looking for and dialed it. He heard her tell his boss that he wasn't feeling well and that he had a doctor's note that would excuse him from work for a couple of days. She ended the call and turned to give him back his phone.

"Are you feeling well enough to visit Dan at the hospital to get a note?"

He nodded again and tried to smile at her, but he knew that it probably looked more pathetic than anything. They drove in almost silence, the only noise being the radio quietly playing some top 40 hits.

Anne had seen him have panic attacks before, it was only inevitable after being in a relationship for so long, but they had never been this bad. He was usually kind of quiet afterward, but he was still able to talk.

Once they reached the hospital Anne helped him back out of the car and guided him inside to Dan's office. He couldn't help himself from looking around to see if Venom had possibly remembered this place, but his mind kept returning to his thought from earlier.

He was numb as he sat there quietly while Anne and Dan spoke to each other, casting furtive glances at him every so often. He didn't pay much attention to what they were saying. He couldn't find it in himself to really care what they were talking about.

He had lost track of how much time had passed before Anne came back over to him and pulled him up out of his chair, walking him back to the car, doctor's note in hand. As they drove, he was staring out the window, watching the trees whiz by.

 _Wait a minute._

He looked around quickly and realized that they were headed in the direction of Anne's apartment rather than his.

"Wait, Anne! Stop!"

She slammed on the breaks, trying to figure out what the problem was. "Eddie, what the hell?"

She looked into her rearview mirror and saw that mercifully there was no one behind her that she just accidentally brake-checked.

"My apartment. I have to go to my apartment. Why are we headed to yours?" He didn't care how desperate or ridiculous he sounded. He couldn't go and stay at her apartment. He needed to be at his in case Venom showed up.

Anne looked at him strangely. "Eddie, didn't you hear Dan and me talking about this? We were going to have you stay with us for a few days to make sure you're okay."

Uh-uh. No fucking way was he letting that happened. He _needed_ to be home. "No. No, Anne. I need to be at my apartment."

Her eyes widened in realization. "Eddie..." she spoke softly. Like he was a fucking child. "Is this about Venom?"

He turned his body away from her so he didn't have to look into her eyes but didn't refute her statement.

She sighed but didn't push the topic any further and he loved her for it. It was a different kind of love. The kind that gave him hope that he could actually be friends with her and Dan without it hurting. He wanted that so bad. Anne made a U-turn and headed towards his apartment.

Once they arrived, she let him take his time getting out of the car, and when he went in for a hug, she put her hand up and stopped him.

"I don't think so," she said. "If you won't let me take you to my apartment the very least you can do is let me up to yours to make sure you're really okay."

He knew that there was no way that she would take no for an answer. Instead, he just let her let her follow him up to his place, relieved that he had managed to get it cleaned up since the Life Foundation goons had trashed it.

He unlocked the front door and set his keys down on the kitchen counter. Anne immediately went to the fridge to look for food for him while he slumped down on the couch.

"Eddie, when was the last time you went grocery shopping?" she asked. "There is almost nothing in here."

He shrugged. Going food shopping hadn't really ranked high on his list of things to do each day.

Anne puttered around in the kitchen for a few more minutes before finding a can of chicken noodle soup in one of the cabinets and decided that would probably be the best option that she was going to find.

Once the soup was done, she poured it into two bowls and brought them over to where Eddie was sitting. "So," she started. "Are you going to tell me what's going on?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"Nope."

Eddie sighed. "Listen, Anne. I know this may sound crazy, but something in me is just telling me that Venom is alive. I know they are. They have to be."

Anne looked like she was contemplating that for a minute. "And that's a good thing?"

"What do you mean?" he asked, confusion clear on his face.

"You want him- "

"Them," Eddie corrected.

"Right, genderless alien symbiote. You want them to come back to you?"

He didn't even have to think about the answer to that question. Somehow Venom had managed to wedge their way right into his heart.

' _Probably while they were eating it,'_ he thought to himself.

"I really do Anne. I don't feel right without them. Something feels missing," he said out loud.

"Hmm," Anne said as she mulled this over. "So, what happened today?"

Eddie was less than willing to talk about this, but he figured if he owed anyone an explanation it would probably have to be his ex-fiancé who had to pick him up off the side of the road after he had a panic attack.

"I've just been spending so much time looking for Venom, I never let myself consider that maybe they don't want me to find them. Maybe they found a better host."

Anne didn't really have anything to say to that. She only had Venom in her for a short time and she felt nowhere near the same connection that Eddie so clearly had. Her time felt more disorienting and she really had not liked it that much. The only thing that helped them to work together was when Venom had shown her his memory of Eddie being taken by three large men.

"Okay, but what about when you guys were together? What did that feel like?"

Eddie looked at her strangely. "Why do you need to ask me that? You bonded with him as well."

"I don't know, Eddie. It didn't feel like something I would actively want back, I felt like I wasn't in control of myself. Honestly, a lot of it is fuzzy to me. I can't really remember exactly what happened, I just have a vague idea of what was going on," she tried to explain. "Whatever it is you felt with them seems to be kind of special."

"Really?" Eddie was kind of shocked. He knew that Venom cared enough about him to rescue him from the Life Foundation when theoretically he could have bonded with whoever to try to stop the rocket, but he thought that was just because Venom felt like he owed him something. He hadn't really thought too much about it to dwell on the idea that maybe it was more.

Anne stood up and brought the dirty dishes to the sink. When she turned around to look back at him, she could see that he was struggling to keep his eyes open, the events of that morning thoroughly exhausting him even though it was only midday.

"Come on, Eddie," she said, trying to coax him into standing up. "Let's get you into bed."

He wanted to protest, but he could feel sleep overcoming him. He all but collapsed onto his bed, and the last thing he felt before passing out was Anne pulling his covers up and kissing him on the forehead.

Venom had no idea where they were. After the rocket explosion where they were forcibly ejected from Eddie for the second time in one night, they had bonded with the closest animal that they could find and kept changing hosts as each one got weaker and weaker. They found themself blacking out for periods at a time as their host's bodies attempted to regain strength. They tried to feed, tried to eat, but they were weak. They were expending so much energy trying to control the animals that they knew they could only do this for so much longer. If they didn't find Eddie soon they were going to wither away.

Time didn't really mean much to Venom. The passing of time here was much different than back at their home planet, Klyntar, so they had no idea how long they had been searching. They were honestly surprised that they had even lasted this long.

The squirrel that Venom was currently bonded with almost dead. They could feel the small animal fading, but they had to keep going. It was dark out, but that didn't bother Venom, the shadows making it that much easier to sneak up on prey.

Eddie's scent suddenly his Venom like a ton of bricks. Forcing the small rodent to move forward, Venom was able to find what was giving off the smell. Crushed pieces of metal from Eddie's motorcycle sat on the side of the road, the street evidently not completely cleaned up since the accident happened.

While Eddie was in control of their body for most of the time that they were bonded, Venom was in control during the chase in which the accident happened. They knew which roads they had taken, all they had to do was backtrack.

This sudden bout of good luck gave Venom the energy and will to keep going, to push forward. The same could not be said for their host. The squirrel was sluggish and wobbly and could hardly stand upright. Venom knew that the animal would not make the trek to Eddie's apartment.

A sudden movement to the side caught Venom's eye, and they turned to see a pigeon land a few feet away. They left the squirrel, knowing that in its weakened state it would only attract more attention from the bird and would scare it off.

Outside of a host Venom couldn't move very fast. They slunk across the asphalt, trying to be as stealthy as possible, eventually getting close enough to stretch out a tendril and reach for the bird. It tried to fly away at the last second, but it was too late. Venom was already sinking into its body.

They flapped their wings experimentally. Perfect.

Venom immediately took off, not wanting to waste any time. Venom enjoyed the speed that their new host afforded them, moving far quicker than they ever could have in the squirrel's body.

Animals were so much easier to control than humans. Humans had too many thoughts and their own agendas and Venom found it very difficult to get a human either to do something they didn't want to do or to give over control to them. That was what made Eddie such a perfect host for them.

Even though Venom was sent to Earth to be a part of the team that found hosts and sent a rocket back for the rest of their population, they personally were just looking for a reason for themself. They felt lost and useless back on Klyntar, and they volunteered to go on the expedition to find a purpose for living. Meeting Eddie and bonding with him felt like that purpose, like it was meant to be.

Venom could understand the thoughts of every creature that they bonded with. When they bonded with Eddie, they could feel just how alone he was. He seemed so sad and just as lost as they were. Being with Eddie made them feel good. Venom knew that all the other symbiotes simply used their hosts, their bond with Eddie felt different than that. He felt like he was giving just as much as he was taking, which was absolutely unheard of for their species.

Venom began to fly in the direction they remembered coming from when riding on Eddie's motorcycle. Luckily, a trip that would have taken him all night on the ground only took a little while as a pigeon because the bird was definitely not a good host for them. They were weakening quickly, and Venom knew that they had to conserve energy if they wanted to have any hope of making it to Eddie.

Finally, _finally_ , they came across a very familiar looking apartment building. The pigeon's body was beginning to falter and Venom still had no clue how they were going to get into Eddie's apartment.

Venom managed to find the window that led into Eddie's bedroom. They could see Eddie's sleeping form and they frantically tried to think of how best to get to him. They settled on slamming their body into the window as hard as they could manage to try and wake him up. They bounced off and felt themselves losing altitude and strength. With one last surge of energy, they slammed into the window again, before collapsing and careening to the ground, landing with a solid crack.

Their body was weak, but Venom couldn't find it within themself to leave their host. Eddie was so close, but he never felt farther away. They didn't know what else they could have done, and all they could hope was that Eddie would be okay. Without Venom there to protect him, they could only hope that his friends would take care of him.

Venom felt like they were fading. They were weak, maybe just as weak as they were after the rocket explosion. They didn't think that they would be able to make it to a new host this time.

Just as Venom was resigning themself to the fact that this was the end, the door on the side of the building burst open. They were too far gone to try to sense who it was, but they showed no sign of being dangerous. The person approached them and began to look at the pigeon, perhaps looking for any sign of life. Venom forced the bird to open its eyes and made themselves visible by passing through the eyes.

"V?" the man choked out in question. Venom could feel him reaching out and touching the bird, giving them the opportunity to slide from the pigeon to the person. The man pulled them close to his chest, almost as if cradling them. Venom felt a few salty drops of something – _tears?_ – splash against their form.They began to sink inside his body, allowing Venom to regain a little bit of strength and awareness.

Bonding with Eddie again felt like coming home after being away for years. They never wanted to leave him again.

 **Note: Okay so I definitely meant to get this chapter done forever ago, but the writing bug had left me for a little while. I'll try to be more consistent with posting from here on out, but I don't want to make any promises. As an apology for taking so long, however, I decided to end this chapter on a significantly happier note than I originally intended. I was going to cut off with Venom thinking that they were dying, but I felt like being nice. So, you're welcome. Also, please excuse any grammatical mistakes I may have made, I've been drinking tonight so I'm not functioning at 100%. If you spot anything wrong, feel free to leave a comment letting me know and I'll edit it. Please be respectful though, if someone has already something you don't all need to spam me.**

 **Please be sure to like and favorite if you enjoyed and leave a comment if you feel so inclined.**


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